Wednesday, 25 June 2014

Hello everyone!It seems that almost everyone in the blogging world has had TeaPigs before. If you haven't, hop on board because TeaPigs are uh-maze-ing. I recently received their new Super Power Green Tea drinks in the mail and oh boy was I excited to try these out. I thought I would try out the Apple flavour first and I have to admit, it wasn't strongly flavored with Apple as I thought it would. You get the flavor of the tea, which isn't bad at all. I love green tea, I used to drink it all the time but lately I've only started drinking tea again & I always preferred chilled drinks so I chilled mine in the fridge so it tasted like Iced Tea with a hint of Apple but all the goodness of the Matcha. I actually felt good about myself while drinking this. Is that strange? Since it's now Summertime, drinking these Super Power Green Tea drinks, chilled, is heavenly and I suggest you try them. I've also perked up slightly from drinking. I can't wait to drink the Elderberry & Grapefruit flavors.The side of the bottle quotes -"Matcha is a superhero among teas. 100% ground green tea leaves from Japan- essentially a super concentrated green tea containing natural green tea flavouroids (catechins) Matcha tea bushes are grown under lots of shade which boosts their chlorophyll content. The hand picked leaves are ground up by granite stones to a super fine poweder. So when you drink matcha, you're ingesting every little bit of green tea goodness. Thats why we call it super power green tea"I can see myself buying a bunch of these drinks from the website. I really want to get a pot of Matcha powder for myself to add to my drinks but it's a tad pricey at the moment for me. I would adore the Matcha Pot set that includes a whisk and a glass! Hello Christmas present (or wedding present ;) ) The set is priced at £32.50, a 30g box of matcha tea is £25, a 2g sample is £2 and the super green drinks are priced at £1.89. At the moment, anyone who joins up to the website's newsletter gets 10% off their first purchase but can only be used in the first 7 days! Excellent *Taps fingers together like Mr Burns*Check out their other teas aswell! In the package I also received a teabag of their Lemon & Ginger tea. It was very strongly smelled, I might give it a go. Don't knock it until you've tried it. According to the website, this can be an iced tea drink, so I will definitely try this one chilled! I'm also loving the glass tea pot and cups you can buy in their shop!

Saturday, 21 June 2014

Hello crazy cat ladies and bloggers! Today I'll be reviewing... or rather my cat will be reviewing the latest box around, Purr Boxes! Purr boxes are the purrfect subscription box for that feline you love. Now before we start I must say, my kitty got to this box before me, ripped it to shreds and ate half the box. So there are items that have been gobbled and are missing. I will try my best to describe the items that are long gone and enjoyed very much by the cat! Also check Zazzles's youtube video at the end of the post.Purr Boxes kindly sent me a box to review & Zazzles was the purrfect tester.

What is a Purr Box? Purr Boxes are monthly boxes full of goodies for your cat. This includes toys & treats for £9.95 a month with free delivery when purchasing a monthly subscription and £1.99 when buying a one off box. Not bad, ey? There boxes are perfect to slot through the post box...but arn't cat proof. Even though they have assured me that this is the first time a purr box has been ravaged at someone's front door by their feline friend. Zazzle's just got a little too excited about receiving his first ever bit of mail!Now onto what was inside the box. I couldn't photograph the packet of Catnip or Cat Grass as it had been destroyed, well mainly just the catnip. The grass is safely tucked away ready for the packet to be patched up and planted in a pot. :D

Firstly there was this adorable felt bow, if only Zazzles could wear it, because bow ties are cool. Right? Next up was this cute mouse toy that Zazzles did manage to get out of the box and play with, so he enjoyed that! And my favourite item in the box were the Tea for Mews. That's right tea bags for cats. You make it like you would do with any other tea bag, brew it, let it cool down and give it to your cat. Either your feline buddy will drink this healthy catnip drink or just bask in the glory of it's smell next to his or her's bowl. Genius. Just imagine a cat with a monacle, newspaper and a cup of tea for mews! We also have two pieces of wood that I'm not sure what they are used for but I'm sure Zazzles will chew on them? Are they for chewing or something else? Let me know in the comments!EDIT: The wood is compost pellets for the grass

Next up was this cute sequined feather star catnip toy! Now, Zazzles has been known to be flamboyant with his toys. He likes the pink fluffy feathers on a stick so he was very keen on this sparkly number!I'm aware that there were more packets of Webbox food sticks. Zazzles mucnched his way through Cheese, Malt and Fish flavoured sticks. Salami was the remaining packet as it was near the back of the box and he hasn't been able to get it yet, the little scamp. Obviously these went down very well! And so will the dreamies when I open them. He is quite literally like the cat on the advert, you know the one. Where the guy shakes the packet and the cat comes running though the walls. Yep! Shake any packet and Zazzles comes running. When he is a good boy I will give some to him but for now he can just bloody well wait.And lastly, the box. Cats LOVE boxes. I know this one does. :')So apart from the Grass, Catnip and 3 packets of food sticks eaten, it's been a pretty successful box! Zazzle's was quite excited, he even left a trail of empty packets around the doorway for me to find.Check out his little youtube video of him inspecting the rest of the box. :DI have to say, I'm rather impressed with Purr Box. For £10, you do get quite a few things in the box & when you notice the price of some of these items in shops. It's worth it. And it's purrrrrrrfect for cats! Honest. ;)Get a Purr Box here

Tuesday, 17 June 2014

The big day is almost upon us! I've bought my dress and I'm currently waiting for it to be delivered. I'd show you a photo but my fiance reads my blog and I don't want him to spoil it. I managed to get my dress with a big help from my fiance's mum. I greatly appreciate her coming to my rescue. Of course after I was able to get my dress, I started to get very excited. The overall cost of my dress was £59.
I had a dawdle in Home Bargains, knowing fine well they sold wedding bits and bobs such as postboxes, bunting, napkins etc so I bought 30 bubble wands for the favor boxes & a cake slicer and knife for £4.98. Now that's definitely a bargain. I'm still needing chair & table covers and pretty bunting for the party venue though.

Somewhere down the line, I found myself on pinterest. I know. I know. Big mistake but I did get alot of cheap wedding inspirations! I don't have alot of money to spend, in fact this whole wedding is a budget wedding. I'll probably end up on a episode of superscrimpers or the likes but it's not about how much money you can blow on a wedding, even though that would be blissful, it's about how you spend the day with the one you love and everyone around you. Anyhoo, as I can't afford a big flashy photobooth. I've decided to make my own. I have the camera, the back drop and the tripod. All I need is some photobooth props and away we go! I'll also be printing off a checklist of cute camera shots people can take. With things such as "Take a photo of a cute couple" & "Take a photo of the bride & her bridesmaids laughing". I think it's a cute idea to get people to take out their own cameras & make some memories.
I shall be taking the laptop, buying a spotify premium account so I can listen offline and making a wedding party playlist to hook to the speakers in the venue. Waaall-a. Instant DJ area. Just let spotify do the work & save about £100 not having a hired DJ.
I've also decided to make my own flower bouquets. Gathering fake flowers & ribbon from wilkinsons or various craft shops will help the cost a great deal.
As for the food for the buffet, lots of family are helping out and I will be making some geeky yummies too, because it can't be a Jess & Tony wedding without having something geeky on display. :D
I'm going to try and make childrens activity books so they don't get too bored after running around and making bubbles everywhere.

I have so many ideas that I can do. Ahhhhhhh. Of course I shall have a BIG blog post about the event. ;)

Monday, 16 June 2014

Hello everyone! I recently got contacted by Wantable asking me if I would like a box to review and I said yes! Wantable have three different boxes to choose from, Accessories, Beauty & Intimates. I chose Accessories due to the fact there are plenty of make-up boxes around and I really don't need any more make-up at the moment as I'm happy with what I use. I also chose this box because I hardly have any accessories for the summer and I thought it would be perfect to try out new jewellery that I wouldn't normal pick up in stores. Wantable are based in the USA and have recently just started to ship to the UK. You may have seen a few reviews around the blogsphere. Wantable also choose what's going inside your box according to what answers you give during the sign up process. Questions from "Which type of accessories do you like" and "How do you feel about this type of style" I love how this box is personalized and with that added touch of putting in your name in the box too!
Wantable is $36 for a subscription and $40 for just a single box. Every box has full sized products, even the make-up box. But is this too highly priced for what is inside?

The Wrap Bracelet - $26
This is one of the first things I see in the box and it really catches my eye. It's perfect for summer time and the colours are beautiful. It also doubles up as a necklace which is wonderful and as soon as I took it out of the packaging I put it straight on. Now I just need a nice outfit to pair with. I would have picked this up in a shop if I saw it. I love the peachy pink tones of the leather look with the gold metal & white and blue contrast.

The Ring - $18
From first laying eyes on this, I've really disliked it. Not to everyones taste but the feel, look and the fact that it's a stretchy ring just make it look cheap and horrible. Especially for the recommended price. I would never pick this up at a high end store never mind a shop like New Look. This photo actually makes it look better than it is.

The Gia Necklace - $36
This necklace was packed away in a nice velvet envelope. I really liked it, it's not the type of necklace I usually go for. I like dainty necklaces that sit nicely at the collar bone. This necklace was big, chunky and made a statement. Unfortunately I would have loved this if it wasn't for the fact the chain's didn't match up where they were attached! I like everything to be perfect and I think it was made to look like this but I don't like it. There were also black marks that can only be described as marker pen on the pearls and due to the heaviness of this necklace, while photographing for these blog photos, the clasp snapped. As you can see in the photos the string was stretched and then I picked it up to move it and it snapped on me. I'm gutted as I really wanted to wear this necklace! I've gotten in touch with Wantable, let's hope they will reply. I will edit this post when they do :)

EDIT: Wantable replied to my email and are kindly sending me a replacement. Lovely customer service from them!

Looking at other wantable boxes, I felt like this box could have been better. I was highly disappointed in the ring and would have prefered something different. Overall I feel like even though the jewellery is highly priced, I proberly wouldn't buy this box. I was super excited to try something new and I'll probably only ever wear the bracelet now.

Sunday, 8 June 2014

Hello! It's been a while. My creative juices have not been flowing lately but Nick Kent finally uploaded the photos from Upload Live concert in Newcastle so I thought I would blog about it since my phone photos of the night were crappy. Full credit goes out to him and you can check out his photography here.

If you didn't know already I quite like watching Emma Blackery's youtube videos and listening to her music. So when I found out she was coming to Newcastle's 02 Acadamy on the Upload Live tour with Bribry, Luke Cutforth & Dave Giles. I just had to get tickets and they were a steal at £8. We got there a bit late at the doors and it was heaving with young kids and teenagers. Being twenty four and going to events like this, makes me feel old. It was raining & my shoes were slippy and I had grabbed a burger and fries from McDonalds as I hadn't eaten prior to the event. The pouring down rain made my chips and feet soggy. I wasn't having a nice time in the queue and really wished that the door men would hurry up and let everyone in. To top that off, my bags got checked and I had to hand my bottle of Little Miracles drink, so I downed that fucker at the door. I was just happy to be inside, in the warmth which quickly turned into melt down mode. It was so hot after five minutes due to 100+ people being in a small room. I fanned myself down using the leaflets I found. Since about ninety screaming teenagers got in before us we just lingered in the back. So far in the back you can't even make us out on the bottom photos and the photos I took on my phone were just dark and blurry.

To be really honest, I was only there to see Emma and she was the last headliner. My ears almost exploded with the sounds of screaming every time Luke came on stage. First up was Dave Giles and I must say after his performance, I instantly became a fan. At one point he had to do a acoustic version of a song because the amp busted up and it was just beautiful. I wish I could remember the name of the song. Danny Gruff joined him on stage and it was amazing. They did some awesome songs, one that really stuck with us was "Skint" Then it was Bribry's turn who got quite the screams when appearing on stage. I remember not really being a fan of his music, I listened but it just wasn't for me and then the girl we were waiting for. Emma came on stage and then the crowd just went ballistic and roared for her. She opened up with Go The Distance and ended with Fuck you Google+. She proceeded to make the audience wet....with her water bottle. You dirty minded readers!

The ending was brilliant. They all came out and sang Lorde's Royals & School of Rock! It was so great. I enjoyed it immensely. If I had stuck around longer, I could have met Emma and had a photo op with her and the others but the lines were so hectic... pushing and squishing. It really brought out the claustrophobe in me. The security finally made an area on one side of the stairs to let us get out, we collected our coats from the coat room and quickly got out, it had stopped raining so Tony and I decided to go and get a kebab and a chicken burger from Tony's favourite chippy in town. I'll be uploading some of the videos on my youtube channel later as I managed to record Royals but not School of Rock, I was too busying enjoying it!

I'm not one to go to concerts, I prefer listening to music in the comfort of my own home. This was one of my first concerts & not my last either. I'm glad I booked tickets and waited in the rain for twenty minutes to listen to some great music! Do you watch these youtubers?